This dish was originally invented at Antoine’s in New Orleans many, many years ago. Normally, the oysters are served in their shells, but Chef Troy decided to change it up a little and serve them on toast last weekend at The Cabin. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 bunch shallots, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup dry white wine

Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

2 dozen oysters & lacour (oyster juice). (Chop 5-6 of them)

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 box Melba Toast

Method

Sauté the chopped shallots and celery in the butter until slightly translucent. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan.

Add the heavy cream and reduce over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

On a baking sheet, place the rest of the oysters on the Melba Toast, 1 oyster to one toast. Top with Bienville mixture, sprinkle with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, and toast until Melba Toast is crispy enough for your liking, about 2 minutes. Serve!

Happy Good Friday! Easter weekend is officially upon us. Chef Troy has put together a few brunch dishes for The Cabin for Easter Sunday. One of them is an “Imperial Benedict”, a unique Cajun twist on the traditional Eggs Benedict. It involves the regular poached eggs, Canadian bacon, and English muffins, but instead of hollandaise sauce, Troy concocted a Shrimp & Crawfish cream sauce. Here’s the recipe below in case you aren’t able to make it to The Cabin for brunch on Sunday:

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add the seafood and saute for 2 minutes. If you’ve boiled your own crawfish, save the fat and add it in as well. Add heavy cream and next 6 ingredients to a pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sauce begins to boil and thickens.

Cook for 5 – 10 minutes over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so over very low heat, stirring often.

Poach the eggs in a pot of water with a few dashes of white vinegar (keeps the yolks together). About 4-5 minutes in boiling water usually does the trick. Toast English muffins.

To serve, top each muffin with once slice of Canadian bacon and one poached egg. Smother with the Shrimp & Crawfish cream sauce. Enjoy!

It’s still Lent, which means you’re probably looking for a good seafood recipe to serve on Fridays. Here is a classic Louisiana dish from The Cabin Restaurant, served with fresh Gulf Shrimp, that is sure to satisfy your taste buds. Enjoy!

Slowly stir in the half and half while cooking, and then stir in the cheese. Stir and cook till the cheese is completely melted.

Add the minced jalapeno and the garlic, season to taste

Cook the fettuccine as directed and stir all together

Pour into two well buttered 9×13 glass dishes. Top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Top with freshly chopped scallions and freshly grated parmesan. Serve with a dry white wine and a fresh baguette of french bread.

We cook some different dishes down here in south Louisiana. Boudin, jambalaya, gumbo – all distinctly Louisiana cuisine. One Louisiana culinary creation we serve at the Coffee House in The Cajun Village is a “Beignet Bourée”. This dish is essentially a combination of two Louisiana favorites: beignets and just about any Louisiana entree you can think of. At the Coffee House, we like to serve Beignet Bourée with Shrimp Etouffee. Below are recipes for the beignets as well as the etouffee. All you have to do is stuff/top the beignet with rice and etouffee, and your Beignet Bourée is ready to serve!

Beignets

The secret is in the rolling process. The recipe is about as simple as they come – flour and water to make the dough, oil for frying, etc. The only real trick to making a tasty beignet is in the rolling process; the dough can’t be too thick or it won’t puff up like an inflated pastry. Likewise, it can’t be too thin or it won’t rise enough, and you’re left with something that resembles a potato chip. All you have to do is roll it just right, cook it just long enough, and that’s it! You have a delicious beignet.

Put 1 cup of rice and 1½ cups of water in a small (one-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.

Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Steam should be coming out from under the lid; keep the pot covered and don’t peek under the lid. (For novice rice cooks, a glass lid is a big help.)

Reduce the heat to very low. The rice grains swell as they absorb the water. If the temperature is too high, the bottom of the pan of rice can scorch while the top rice is still undercooked. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

When the timer rings, turn off the burner and remove the pan from the heat. Let the rice sit, covered, for an additional 5 minutes (and no peeking under the lid–the steam will escape).

Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork to separate the grains.

When rice and etouffee are finished, slice open beignets and stuff them with rice, then top with a generous serving of shrimp etouffee. Top with fresh chopped green onions

I was strolling through the shops at The Cajun Village yesterday, snapping pictures for the website and our Facebook page, when I stumbled upon a set of antique, Wisteria-etched “Shirley Sweet Tea” glasses at C & C Treasures. As you can see in the picture above, they are quite beautiful. Now that spring has finally arrived and is here to stay in Louisiana, the set of 6 glasses can and should be put to good use. Few things are more delicious and refreshing on a hot summer’s day than an ice cold glass of sweet tea. SO, here’s a simple sweet tea recipe for you to enjoy as the weather gets warmer. I hope you have some pretty sweet tea glasses like the ones at C & C Treasures to enjoy them in!